These systems will be very important for the upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a joint NASA-ESA space-based gravitational wave observatory. These systems are radiating gravitational waves that aren’t detectable by LIGO, but which astronomers measure indirectly by how the white dwarfs are increasing in speed. Monitoring binary systems containing two white dwarfs in very close orbits. Astronomers are still trying to figure out whether most supernovas of this type are caused by two white dwarfs or a white dwarf in mutual orbit with an ordinary star.įirst Discovery of a Binary Companion for a Type Ia Supernova Studying type Ia supernovas and the remnants of the explosions using many types of light.

White dwarfs produce a great deal of radiation, which can profoundly impact any nearby object.Ĭosmic ‘Death Star’ is Destroying a Planet

Observing the way white dwarfs interact with other astronomical objects, including stars and planets. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian scientists study many different aspects of white dwarfs and neutron stars:

Do all stars spin